Maintenance of genome integrity by the SMC5/6 complex during deaminase-mediated mutagenesis

Active Project Grant Awarded Last action

Award ID
R01GM153923
Recipient
Awarding agency
Obligated
$593,809

Award facts

Assistance listing
93.859 Biomedical Research and Research Training
Completion date 31% complete
Place of performance
St. Louis, MO 63110, USA

Award details come from USAspending.gov.

Description

Abstract
Cells must maintain the integrity of their genome during mutagenic damage caused by endogenous or exogenous genotoxins. To do so, cells employ a multitude of genome-protective pathways. Cancer cells have a much higher mutation burden than non-malignant cells, and therefore are more genomically unstable. A common source of mutation in cancer is cytidine deamination caused by the endogenously encoded APOBEC3A enzyme. APOBEC3A normally functions as part of the innate immune system to restrict virus infection and retrotransposition, but when dysregulated can act on the cellular genome. Deamination events cause a spectrum of mutagenic outcomes which elicit DNA repair pathways and genome-protective responses. APOBEC3A deaminase activity is the cause of prevalent mutational patterns found in many human cancers, therefore IT is imperative to understand the cellular factors that promote or mitigate mutagenesis. Our preliminary data identify the SMC5/6 (structural maintenance of chromosomes 5/6) complex as essential to prevent genotoxicity from APOBEC3A activity. The SMC5/6 complex is highly conserved and has been studied mostly in budding yeast. From yeast models, SMC5/6 is known to play a role in support of both normal and stressed replication forks. APOBEC3A acts primarily on DNA at replication forks, and our data suggest that deaminase activity causes replication stress that is mitigated by the SMC5/6 complex. However, the mechanism by which SMC5/6 protects replication forks from APOBEC3A-mediated damage is unknown. The goals of this proposal are to define the impact of APOBEC3A activity on replication fork progression and the mechanism by which SMC5/6 protects forks from deaminase activity. Aim 1 will define the effect of APOBEC3A deaminase activity on replication fork progression and genome duplication. We will identify the cellular mechanisms that enable replication forks to tolerate obstacles presented by APOBEC3A activity, and how this influences overall mutational burden. Aim 2 will determine how SMC5/6 prevents replication-associated DNA breaks when APOBEC3A is active. Using proteomics, single-molecule imaging, and separation-of-function mutants, we will dissect the specific activities of SMC5/6 that confer replication fork protection. These studies will capitalize on our novel observation of synthetic lethality between APOBEC3A and loss of SMC5/6 to investigate mechanisms of genome protection by the SMC5/6 complex, which remain enigmatic especially in mammalian cells. The impact of the proposed studies will form a foundation for new targeted treatment options by defining mechanisms of DNA damage and genome protection in cancer.

Transactions

Action Obligated Date
Amendment $289,967
Original award $303,842

Subawards

Subrecipient Amount Awarded
Sloan-Kettering Institute For Cancer Research Scope of Work Project: Maintenance of genome integrity by the SMC5/6 complex during deaminase-mediated mutagenesis WashU PI: Abby Green MSKCC PI: Iestyn… $131,832

Quick answers

Who received award R01GM153923?

R01GM153923 was awarded to The Washington University by National Institute of General Medical Sciences (National Institutes of Health) on April 21, 2025.

How much is award R01GM153923 worth?

$593,809 has been obligated on R01GM153923.

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